* Richard_Kuklinski begins a discussion... *
This thing of ours has its roots in Sicily, amongst peasants that formed a paramilitary group, one that staged an uprising. Whilst the raison d'etre of the organisation has changed utterly one thing has remained; it is a paramilitary organisation. The members are armed, orders are issued, orders are received, wars happen, people do. There is a clear hierarchy, there are greivances and there are disciplinary measures.
Within this particular things of ours, wars tend to be absolute affairs. There are rarely, if ever, sit-downs halfway through a war between two crews or cities. It is, essentially, a fight to the death. This is one of the reasons that discipline is so tight. Wars do not make good business sense - not in the short or medium term anyway. Yet they happen, fairly often. Most often this is because of transgression from accepted norms. But also sometimes because of commercial interests. Most often, perhaps, a mixture of the two.
As with the outside world, war can be total. The marketplace goes into flux, normal business slows or ceases. Recent times have seen the advent of the 'city take down', when a city falls, sometimes due to the actions of one or more of the ranking members of that city. I'm not going to get drawn on the rights or wrongs of this happening. That is a topic for debate.
Our particular thing of ours could be described as a paramilitary business. Is this an oxymoron? There are CEO, middle management and lots of lovely cash. Will the paramilitary part always affect the business? What if business were to drive the paramilitary aspect? Well, that might be boring. What do you reckon?
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